Natural hazards · Sandia Heights

Sandia Heights, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sandia Heights comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Sandia Heights?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sandia Heights to be higher than in 33% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding82%Earthquakes8%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Sandia Heights faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Inland flooding

82% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 59% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Sandia Heights flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Sandia Heights.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Sandia Heights isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Bernalillo County.

Disasters that hit Sandia Heights

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Bernalillo County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Sandia Heights itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Sandia HeightsDeclared for Bernalillo County only

Bernalillo County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and severe storms.

Around Sandia Heights

Sandia Heights and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Sandia Heightsmostly inland floodingLow

Albuquerquemostly inland floodingLow

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Sandia Heights is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Sandia Heights’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Sandia Heights. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.